Positron emission tomography (PET) is an in vivo imaging method that uses positron emitting radiotracers to track the biochemical, molecular, and/or pathophysiological processes in humans and animals. In PET systems, positron-emitting isotopes serve as beacons for identifying the exact location of diseases and pathological processes under study without surgical exploration of the human body. With these non-invasive imaging methods, the diagnosis of diseases may be more comfortable for patients, as opposed to the more traditional and invasive approaches, such as exploratory surgeries.
One such exemplary radiopharmaceutical agent group includes gallium-68 (Ga-68), which may be obtained from the radioisotope germanium-68 (Ge-68). Ge-68 has a half-life of about 271 days, decays by electron capture to Ga-68, and lacks any significant photon emissions. Ga-68 decays by positron emission. These properties make Ge-68 an ideal radioisotope for calibration and transmission sources. Thus, the availability of the long-lived parent, Ge-68, is of significant interest because of its generation of the shorter-lived gallium radioisotope.
There continues to be a need for an improved process to produce Ge-68 used to obtain Ga-68 for PET imaging methods. The present disclosure is directed to an improved process for generating Ge-68 from an irradiated target body.